TREND-UK Co-Chair and Nurse Consultant – Diabetes, Medicus Health Partners, Enfield
Debbie began in diabetes nursing in 1990 where she developed the Diabetes Specialist Nursing Service in Hull from being a lone practitioner to being the lead DSN with seven other DSN colleagues. She is an Independent Nurse prescriber.
In September 2005, she moved south to take up the post of Nurse Consultant – Diabetes. She led a team of four nurses and two administrative staff. The role of the Enfield Community Services Diabetes Nursing team is to provide high-quality, patient-centred diabetes care based within the community. In January 2019 she took up a new post working with Medicus Health Partners to improve diabetes care delivery within a group of fourteen like-minded General Practices in Enfield, north London.
She has been involved in various national groups, including as the Chair of the Diabetes Nursing Strategy Group. She was Chair of the National Nurse Consultant Group from 2012 to 2014.
Debbie has published over a hundred and forty papers in the UK, Italy, France and the United States, with seventy as first author, since she began in diabetes nursing in 1990. Topics of publication include insulin therapy, injection device choice, injection technique, blood glucose monitoring, care delivery, patient education, service redesign and many more. She has presented papers in the UK, Belgium, Norway, New Zealand, Israel, Switzerland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Debbie has been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Diabetes Nursing since it was first published in 1996 and included her “Diabetes Issues” problem page. She was the Editor-in-Chief from July 2007 to November 2017. Debbie is currently a member of the editorial board of The Diabetes Times.
Debbie is the founding member and Co-Chair of TREND-UK (Training, Research and Education for Nurses in Diabetes) that was launched in January 2010. In 2018 TREND-UK won two national awards for excellence in diabetes care. She is also the First Chair and founder of FIT-UK, now Chair of Injection Technique Matters – Best Practice in Diabetes Care that aims to encourage best practice in injection technique for all healthcare professionals, and people living with diabetes using injectable therapies to ensure optimum benefit from these medications. In 2013, Debbie won two National awards for her work on injection safety.
In October 2018 Debbie, as part of TREND-UK, won the QIC Excellence in Diabetes Care award and a month later won the DPC Special Achievement award.
She still finds diabetes nursing challenging, stimulating and highly rewarding even after nearly thirty years.
JILL HILL
Co-Chair
Jill Hill qualified in 1978 in London, and has worked in a variety of settings, including intensive care, neurosurgery, nursing home, BUPA health screening and also for the pharmaceutical industry. Her first experience of diabetes nursing was in 1975. She has worked as a diabetes nurse since 1992, firstly in mid-Staffordshire, then as manager of the diabetes nursing services at Birmingham Heartlands hospital, followed by 10 years as the nurse consultant in the community in Birmingham. She has published numerous articles and co-authored Prescribing in Diabetes. Jill lives in Wales and has recently retired from working part-time as a diabetes specialist nurse in Shropshire for several years. She continues to work on a number of projects as co-chair of TREND (Training, Research and Education for Nurses in Diabetes) UK.
JUNE JAMES
Co-Chair Consultant Nurse – Diabetes at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Associate Professor for the University of Leicester
June James works as a Consultant Nurse in Diabetes; she is a non- medical prescriber for the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Honorary Associate Professor for the University of Leicester and co-chair of TREND–UK.
June led on the development of the NHS Diabetes suite of medication safety e-learning modules and with colleagues recently developed two further modules the “Six steps to insulin safety” and the Non Insulin therapies” module with the Primary Care Diabetes Society. Her work with TREND –UK has led to the development of a suite of other resources for both people with diabetes and healthcare professionals.
Working on various multidisciplinary committees such as the Joint British Diabetes Society in the development of national guidelines, she also writes and peer reviews for diabetes journals including Diabetic Medicine. June is Associate Editor for Practical Diabetes and has recently co-authored the Diabetes UK End of Life Clinical Care Recommendations along with two chapters for the internationally acclaimed “Textbook of Diabetes”. She is an international speaker and in 2019 lectured in Nepal and in Porto.
June served as Vice Chair of the Diabetes UK Council of Healthcare Professionals and chaired the 2006 Annual Professional Conference Organising Committee. She had the honour of presenting the Janet Kinson Lecture at the Diabetes UK Annual Professional Conference in 2010.
JANE DIGGLE BSc (Hons) RGN
Specialist Practitioner Practice Nurse, South Kirkby West Yorkshire
Jane qualified with a BSc (Hons) in Nursing in 1990 (Leeds) and has worked as a Practice Nurse in the same practice for over 20 years. She retains a generalist role but has a special interest in diabetes for which she is clinical lead within the practice. She is an independent prescriber and has gained MSc modules in Insulin Management and New & Advanced Therapies from Leicester University.
Jane was elected to the PCDS Committee in 2010 and became Vice Chair in 2016. She is Associate Editor-in-Chief for Diabetes and Primary Care, regularly publishes articles and was instrumental in developing and writing Six Steps to Insulin Safety (a free e-learning module available at www.cpd.diabetesonthenet.com). She is a member of Injection Technique Matters – Best Practice in Diabetes Care, which strives to encourage best practice in injection technique.
Practice Nurses play a key role in the delivery of diabetes care and are increasingly responsible for making independent and often complex management conditions. Jane joined TREND-UK to promote and support practice nurses’ valuable contribution to diabetes care by sharing knowledge, skills and expertise.
ERICA RICHARDSON
Associate Lead Diabetes Specialist Nurse (In-Patient Team), Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust
Erica completed her nurse training in Manchester and qualified as a RGN 1999. She has nursing experience in both acute and community nursing.
She has been a full time DSN within the acute sector since 2009. She has experience in the training and education of nursing and medical staff within the secondary care sector. She is currently the lead for insulin pump therapy in Shropshire and has a master’s level qualification in continuous insulin pump therapy which she gained through Liverpool University. In 2010, she took a lead role in the implementation of the Think Glucose initiative within her current Trust and continues work to maintain this on an on-going basis. In 2013 she qualified as a non-medical prescriber. Following this, she was promoted to lead diabetes specialist nurse within the Trust (September 2014).
She currently manages a team of 7 nurses that cover 2 hospital sites in Shropshire. Her team are responsible for; supporting all in-patient care for adults with diabetes and provide cover within maternity for mothers with type 1 diabetes. They also provide a continuous blood glucose monitoring service and initiate, monitor and support over 170 individuals on insulin pump therapy and provide a robust teaching programme for both medical and nursing staff on a regular basis.
Erica has particular interest in facilitating both persons with diabetes and health care professionals to learn more about effective management of diabetes. She remains fascinated by the continuous research, developments in treatment and equipment in the care and management of diabetes.
NNEKA AGBASI
Advisor
Community Matron for Residential and Nursing Homes with interest in diabetes, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust.
Nneka began her nursing career in 2007 at the Middlesex University where she obtained a Bsc in Adult Nursing in 2010. She completed her post nursing qualification in Nurse Mentorship and Diabetes Care. Her background includes Orthopaedics (Surgical) and District Nursing. She is also working towards her Masters in Public Health.
In 2012, she started her diabetes career through a secondment opportunity with the community diabetes team, which she did for a year. Her role also involved managing patients living with diabetes in Residential Care and Nursing Homes. This secondment strengthened the link between the diabetes team and other healthcare professionals in the community.
She gained a full-time post as Diabetes Specialist Nurse. Her main interest in diabetes care is Health promotion and self-management. She enjoys teaching people with diabetes, their family members, community nurses and other health care professionals to gain confidence in the provision of diabetes care.
She currently works in a dedicated Care Home Assessment Team as a community matron supporting residential and nursing home in physical health assessment, end of life, frailty assessment, trusted assessor (facilitating discharges and acting as advocates on behalf of the resident in hospital) and manging complex diabetes care. She continues to use her diabetes specialist knowledge to support her fellow matron colleagues, nurses and carers in residential and nursing homes.
She currently exploring public health with main interest in diabetes. She is also supporting carers and nurse in residential and nursing homes promoting good injection technique and recognising diabetes emergencies in the older person with cognitive impairments.
Debbie Voigt is a Diabetes Specialist Nurse in NHS Tayside, Dundee in Scotland. She had a background in Nursing and Midwifery, and Health Visiting before starting work as a DSN in 1999. Debbie was National Clinical Advisor (DSN) for the development of Diabetes Think Check Act improvement programme led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland. She currently represents the Scottish Diabetes Group and Scottish Government as National Clinical Diabetes Think Check Act Co-ordinator (DSN) supporting diabetes improvement across Scottish hospitals.
Debbie is an Honorary Teaching Fellow in the Centre for Medical Education in the University of Dundee and is involved in MSc programme with Kuwait Scotland ehealth innovation network
DR JEN BATEMEN (CPsychol, AFBPsP, ClinPsyD, BSc)
Advisor Clinical Psychologist and Director – The Eating Blueprint Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society
Dr. Jen Nash is a Clinical Psychologist and Chartered Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She specialises in diabetes and obesity and is the author of ‘Diabetes and Wellbeing’ (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013) and ‘Your Weight Isn’t About Food’ (2016). Jen is an Editorial Board Member of the ‘Journal of Diabetes Nursing’ and ‘Diabetes & Primary Care’. She was named an ‘Outstanding Educator’ Finalist in the Quality in Care Awards 2014 and was awarded the honour of a ‘World Diabetes Day Hero‘ in 2012 by the International Diabetes Federation. Jen has been living with type 1 diabetes since childhood and is a recovered emotional eater. As a result of these experiences she founded ‘Positive Diabetes’ in 2009, providing online support to people living with diabetes. In 2014 she founded ‘The Eating BlueprintTM’ – the only Psychological Skills Weight Management Service in the UK. The Eating Blueprint is for individuals who are familiar with dietary education but struggle to implement because they are using food to deal with stress, low mood, tiredness, reward and to solve other ‘non-hunger’ problems. It provides a simple to use online/video toolkit to equip individuals with strategies to make choices other than food. For further information, please visit www.PositiveDiabetes.com and for a Free Starter Pack register at www.EatingBlueprint.com.
LISA KING
Lecturer in Nursing Ulster University
Lisa completed her nurse training in Derry in 1994. She has experience within both primary and secondary care. Lisa completed her BSc (Hons) in Specialist Nursing Practice – Diabetes in 2006 and Nurse Independent Prescriber in 2011.
In 2009 Lisa began her diabetes career as an Diabetes Specialist Nurse in Altnagelvin Hospital. She has experience in developing an insulin pump service, DSN led gestational diabetes antenatal clinic and staff education. In 2010 Lisa moved to Ulster University as Pathway Lead for Specialist Practice Qualification in Diabetes, Diabetes short course and Prescribing in practice.
Lisa is Co-chair of Diabetes Strategic Inpatient group, within the Diabetes Network NI, a member of Regional Diabetes Specialist Nurses Forum NI and a member of Northern Ireland advisory Council for Diabetes UK.
LIZ HOUGHTON
I qualified 1989 and have worked in a variety of nursing jobs before studying for an M, Med Sci, (Human Nutrition). I have worked as a DSN for 18 years working in both the acute (Nottingham City Hospital) and community settings (West Hampshire Community Diabetes Service).
West Hampshire Community diabetes service is consultant-led specialistmultidisciplinary diabetes service commissioned in 2010 and successfully recommissioned in 2016.
In the acute setting, I was involved in developing structured education courses for people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes; working with people with CF related diabetes, PEG feeds and antenatal care. I qualified as an independent nurse prescriber in 2003.
Since 2016 I have been involved in developing a community link nurse group called Glucoheroes the aim of which is to reduce insulin errors and improve the diabetes knowledge of health care professionals. I also help with professional education and have delivered Warwick modules. I have a particular interest in people with Type 1 diabetes and have been recently involved in developing pathways and education for Flash Glucose monitoring and CGM. I am also involved in diabetes research.
EBBIE HICKS
JILL HILL
JUNE JAMES 
JANE DIGGLE BSc (Hons) RGN
ERICA RICHARDSON
NNEKA AGBASI
DEBBIE VOIGT
DR JEN BATEMEN (CPsychol, AFBPsP, ClinPsyD, BSc)
